The Forum of Social Councils of Public Universities of Andalusia awards the Arqus Alliance for its contribution to social progress

The Arqus European University Alliance has received the “Social Involvement in Public Universities of Andalusia” Award from the Forum of Social Councils of Public Universities. The candidature was presented by the University of Granada, as Coordinator of the Alliance, in the category “Internationalisation Experiences of Andalusian Universities”.

Through this Award, the Forum seeks to strengthen the role of the Social Councils of Public Universities of Andalusia as a bridge between the university and the society, also allowing the higher education institutions in this region to be aware of the problems of their surrounding environment and to perceive the needs of the universities and the potential of the programmes they are developing.

The Award received by the Arqus Alliance is framed in the modality “Internationalisation Experiences of Andalusian Universities”, and it highlights and recognises the initiatives of knowledge transfer to society promoted and strengthened through the internationalisation of the Andalusian public universities.

The Jury of the 11^th edition of these Awards has decided to grant this distinction to the Arqus Alliance, considering it “a best practice example of collaboration between the University of Granada and the organisations of its environment (companies and other public and private institutions), its contribution to the progress and welfare of society through the production, transfer and practical application of knowledge, and its social projection”.

The Forum of Social Councils of Public Universities of Andalusia has recognised this initiative as the internationalisation experience that has best articulated and consolidated the collaboration practices between the university and society, praising the potential of its programme to respond to the problems of the environment: “We are proud to be able to award a candidacy such as that of the Arqus Alliance, which recognises such important and necessary work to achieve a better university and a better society. Its successes are the successes of the entire university and Andalusian society”.

Arqus is a distinctive case of a long-term and sustainable initiative aimed at transforming European higher education, research and innovation through deep cooperation and progressive integration among its member universities, in pursuit of an equitable and sustainable future for all.

The Arqus Coordinator, Dorothy Kelly, has received this Award on behalf of the Alliance with enormous gratitude: “At Arqus we are working to ensure that these European links promote and facilitate regional development so that our local ecosystems (schools, companies, NGOs, civil society, etc.) can continue to benefit, among many other things, from opportunities to establish international relations, better-prepared citizens in all senses and more socially committed, or from the exchange of business and innovation initiatives in the grand challenges of our time: climate change, digital transformation and European identity”.

On behalf of the Arqus Alliance, thanks to the Forum of Social Councils of Public Universities of Andalusia for this Award that pushes us to continue advancing in our main objective of building a European University oriented to the future, open, inclusive, committed and driven by research, promoting transformative excellence with and for all.

The awards ceremony will take place on 26^th June from 11:00 CEST at the Archivo General de Indias in Seville. The event, which will bring together numerous personalities from the Andalusian academic, social and business spheres, will be broadcast via streaming. [The video of the ceremony award is available here]

More information (in Spanish) on the website of The Forum of Social Councils of Public Universities of Andalusia.